Sakura's Letter
by ANerdInAllHerGlory
Summary: Sarada discovers an old love letter addressed to her mother and asks her father about it.
1. Part 1

**Pairing** : SasuSaku  
 **Summary** : Sarada discovers an old love letter addressed to her mother and asks her father about it.

 **Author's Note** : Inspired by chapters 539 and 540.

 **Disclaimer** : I do not own Naruto or any of it's characters. Believe it.

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Uchiha Sarada didn't know what she was looking at. She held the crumpled piece of paper firmly in her hand. She had only just discovered it, hidden among the pages of one of her mother's favorite books: "Medical Ninjutsu: Injury and Remedy." It was a rather well-worn book with stains that striped the back cover and many of its pages, evidence of its recurrent use. Sarada had passed over the book many times out of disinterest, scanning over the many books in her parent's collection, hoping to find a book more suitable to her personal interest. She had also scanned her father's books and scrolls countlessly, longing to learn more about him in his absence: the Uchiha clan, his missions, his jutsu, or anything having to do with the man her and her mother both yearned for.

However, today was a different story. Sarada had returned to the shelves with Sakura in mind this time. She had heard of her mother's many feats in the Fourth Shinobi War as well as her mother's ability to master the Fifth Hokage's Strength of a Hundred Seal. Although she was familiar with her mother's monstrous strength, Sarada had previously witnessed more of her mother's abilities in their encounter with the former test subject of Orochimaru and Sharingan wielder, Shin. She remembered how confident her Father had been in her mother's abilities when they were all worried for her safety after she had been taken by Shin. Ever since that day, Sarada had developed a newly-found interest in her mother's abilities, especially in her medical ninjutsu. Which was precisely why Sarada had singled out this particular book.

Flipping through the pages, she ran her fingers over the aged illustrations and the many scribbled notes next to them, some she recognized to be her mother's very own script. Sarada had retired to the small chair next to the shelves and scanned each and every page, searching for her mother in every word and picture. She had spent a lengthy amount of time reading her mother's notes when she flipped the next page to discover a small folded letter. Sarada had marked its place, between an illustration of the arm structure and its chakra paths and another page with a scribbled note by her mother. She opened it out of curiosity and instantly wished she hadn't. She squinted hard, reading the scribbled characters, discerning the truth behind them. It was a love letter, Sarada realized, from a man named Morio. He was thanking Sakura for healing his injuries as well as professing his love for her. He mentioned the war and Sarada realized this must have been a letter from one of the ninja from the Fourth Shinobi War, one of the many that her mother had used her skill as a medic-nin to heal.

Sarada frowned. She knew her father had a past, but did her mother have secrets too? She remembered the last time she found herself in a very similar situation concerning her father's picture with his former team, particularly disturbed over the red head with glasses standing next to him. She instantly hated this Morio for his misplaced love. Her mother had only ever loved her father, Uchiha Sasuke, the man she was now so devoted to and waited patiently on. Never had she, in his absence, wavered in her love for him… Hadn't she?

Instead of placing the letter back in the book like she had originally planned, she found her fist tightening around it.

"Sarada?" a voice called out to her. It was her father. Shocked, she turned, to find him standing in the archway.

"Papa!" she exclaimed, concealing the note instinctively behind her. "I was just-"

"Your Sharingan," he walked forward, a slight frown appearing on the face that was usually so calm and resolved, "is activated. Something wrong?"

"Oh," she said, allowing the crimson to fade from her irises. "It's nothing. Nothing at all! I was just doing some reading."

"Ah," the tall dark figure remarked, taking her mother's book from her hands and flipping it over to read the cover. He didn't seem to make anything of it and handed it back to her. "Medical ninjutsu?"

Sarada peered up at him. He was never one to pry or push for answers, although she knew that her father could probably tell that something had upset her. "I just thought I'd read up on a little of Mom's specialty."

Her father turned his attention to the shelf, grabbing a book amongst his own. She took the opportunity to shove the note inside her pocket.

"You could always ask your mother anything you are wanting to know," her father remarked as he sat on one of the sofas across the room. Sarada gazed at him as he began reading the book he had picked off the shelf. She couldn't help herself from wondering about the relationship between her parents. Was there ever a time that her mother had given up on him? Was there ever a single moment where she had been tired of waiting? She didn't really want to know that answer, but she still couldn't help herself from wondering. What kind of man was her father, whom many looked to as the co-protector of Konoha? He looked up at her then, as if sensing the turmoil inside of her mind.

Walking over to where he sat, she took the spot beside him. He seemed placated by that and continued to read. The letter burned inside of her pocket and she wanted nothing more than to ask her father all the questions that she had. However, she knew her father was not a man of conversation and Sarada didn't want to bring up his past in any way. Her father had just returned from one of his many long missions that the Seventh Hokage and himself found it necessary for him to go on. He was tired, she could still see and after her mother had healed many of his injuries he had then rested for what felt like days. This was the first time she had seen her father since his return.

"Papa?" she found herself saying before she could think.

"Hn?" was his reply, still scanning the page intently.

"How long are you going to be home this time?" Sarada asked as she offered her father a sad smile.

"Not much longer than the last time," he stated plainly, but this time he met her gaze. One of his eyes was covered by his hair and she knew that it was the Rinnegan eye that he kept hidden. She had made it a point to discover its truth but had not succeeded beyond the vague answers her mother and the Hokage had given her. It was another mystery about him, one of many that seemed to only grow in number.

"Lord Seventh tells me you leave sometimes because you have to and other times because you want to," Sarada blurted out, knowing it wasn't the wisest thing to say. Her statement sounded more accusatory than she had intended. The Hokage had not put it in such black and white terms and had even defended her father, saying that everything he was doing was necessary.

"Tch," her father scowled, "Don't listen to everything that Idiot tells you."

"But it's true, isn't it?" she continued. And this time her question was met with silence. "Because you have to make up for something, right?"

Again, Sarada was met with silence and she thought that she wouldn't get an answer, until he replied with a simple and emotionless "Yes."

"Does Mama have anything that she has to make up for?" Sarada found that she was reacting just as bitterly to this as she had reacted last time. "Will she have to leave one day too?"

Her father turned to her with a puzzled frown on his face. It was barely there, but Sarada could still make it out. "What's this about?" he asked.

Too tired to really consider what she was doing, and just simply desperate for answers, Sarada found herself pulling her mother's love letter from her pocket and offering it to her father.

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To be continued.


	2. Part 2

**Pairing** : SasuSaku  
 **Summary** : Sarada discovers an old love letter addressed to her mother and asks her father about it.  
 **Author's Note** : Part 2. Inspired by chapters 539 and 540.

 **Disclaimer** : I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Believe it.

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Uchiha Sasuke held the folded piece of paper indecisively in his hand. He had only read it once; he didn't need to read it again. It was a letter, he had come to understand, addressed to his wife. After his daughter had nervously handed it to him, he had just stared at it for a couple of seconds before realizing he was meant to read it. After doing so, he folded it back the way the bends of the paper encouraged him to, just as it had been before either of them had handled it.

Looking back over to his daughter, Sasuke had asked her where she had found it. Sarada had looked down at the book in her hands and opened it up to a detailed illustration of an arm, saying "Right here."

She had pushed the book over into his lap and stared at him intently. After a few minutes of silence, Sarada began to assault him with questions he didn't know the answers to: "Who is Morio? Why was he writing Mom letters? Did something happen between them?"

Uchiha Sasuke didn't know and therefore didn't have anything to tell his daughter, whom he knew to be very curious about the two of her parents. However, he was aware of his daughter's determination, recalling another situation he remembered all too clearly. Sarada had come to confront him when she became suspicious of her birth, taking it upon herself to personally investigate all the hospitals in Konoha, searching and not finding any record of it. Sakura had relayed the details to him once their battle with Shin had ended. He knew he had to tell her something in order to pacify her if only for the time being in order to prevent her from causing any trouble.

Coming up with nothing, he had simply said, "There's nothing to worry about."

What he had received in return, was nothing short of a glare. After some convincing, Sarada had finally agreed to leave the issue alone, but not after making Sasuke promise to teach her some new jutsu and instruct her training later that afternoon. Although exhaustion still weighed heavily on him due to the strain of his completed mission, he had agreed. He just hoped that in the meantime, Sarada would uphold her part of the promise and leave her mother to her work at the hospital.

Suddenly, a rather loud and obnoxious voice came from downstairs and he heard the front door open.

"Chouchou!" his daughter had exclaimed and hurriedly raced downstairs, leaving the confounded Uchiha to himself.

Leaning back against the sofa, he sighed. He had not expected for his day to involve any complications. Although it was not true for the village itself, Sasuke's home was usually where he could live with expectation, not necessarily having to worry about any surprises.

Sasuke peered at the letter in his right hand. His eyes then traveled to the book in his lap. Where he had once passed over the book with indifference, he now evaluated it more closely. He raised a suspicious eyebrow and began to flip more attentively through the pages, wondering if he might find another letter from this Morio. He scoffed at himself. Was he beginning to act like his daughter, or was she only taking after him?

Finding nothing else, Sasuke shut the book more forcefully than intended, resting it beside him on the sofa. His glare flickered to the rest of his wife's collection on the shelves, equally suspicious of what the other volumes might conceal. He dismissed the thought entirely.

A confliction of emotion stirred inside of the Uchiha. There was a part of him that wanted to ignite the damned letter with his Amaterasu. However, the more reasonable side of him—the smaller of the two—knew he had absolutely no right. Uchiha Sasuke, a man who was once so lost in darkness and so deeply involved with countless of crimes, had absolutely no right to question his wife about the letter. But yet, the letter bothered him more than he was willing to admit.

Sasuke stood and walked over to the small window in the back of the room, distancing himself from the letter. He wanted to walk away from the piece of evidence that exposed the revelation that Sakura could have had a different life—one without him.

His left eye pained him suddenly and he reached up to cover it with a slightly sweaty palm. Sasuke felt ridiculous getting worked up over such an annoying, stupid piece of paper. The Sasuke Uchiha from the past wouldn't have even given it another look, or even a second thought for that matter. But of course, the man he had been before wouldn't have loved the woman that he did now, or have a family to call his own again because of her. In fact, his former self had little regard for Haruno Sakura's feelings at all, giving her more than enough valid reasons to move on with her life.

Turning back around, he glared at the letter once again. Sasuke didn't doubt that other men had seen value in his wife during a time when he hadn't. He often reminded himself that he had been too blinded by darkness and his lust for revenge to see anything. However, it wasn't the thought of other men that had troubled him about this letter. What he seemed to be most bothered by was the idea that maybe Sakura had wavered, if just a little, in her love for him. She had kept it after all.

Sasuke knew himself to be completely unreasonable in this matter, but the letter continued to burn a hole in his vision, as if he had been staring at the sun. Unjustifiably frustrated, the Uchiha stalked toward and towered over the letter that rested on top of the book that had protected it from him for all these years. He wanted it out of his sight.

With what little resolve he could summon, he left the letter untouched, walking away from it and out of the room. Although he still hadn't fully recovered from his mission, Sasuke could only think of one thing that would return him to himself, finding it rather appealing at the moment to challenge his loser of a friend to a sparring match. Despite the Hokage's busy schedule, Sasuke knew that Naruto couldn't resist a challenge from him. A battle between them had long been overdue and he suddenly felt the need to fight someone.

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 **To Be Continued**.


	3. Part 3

**Pairing** : SasuSaku

 **Summary** : Sarada discovers an old love letter addressed to her mother and asks her father about it.

 **Author's Note** : Part 3. Instead of starting my 12-page final paper that's due this Friday, I finished Part 3. Yay, procrastination! As always, I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts!

 **Disclaimer** : I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Believe it.

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Uchiha Sakura had prepared her family's favorite entrée for dinner that evening. Although Sakura had more of a sweet tooth, her daughter seemed to take after her father's taste and when Sasuke was home, Sakura didn't complain about eating Onigiri and tomatoes more than once in two days. Sarada always seemed to be merrier when she arrived to dinner when he was home, knowing her mother would make her and her father's favorite.

Sakura hummed pleasantly to herself as she prepared the final touches of the meal, waiting for her husband and daughter to return, from what she presumed to be their own personal errands and training exercises.

Sakura had not expected Sasuke to recover so soon, shocked to have noticed his chakra's absence and their bedroom empty upon her return. She expected that he had gone to see the Hokage to discuss in more detail the intel that Sasuke had gathered on his mission away from the village. Still, Sakura admired her husband for his strength, understanding in full just how much of an effect the Rinnegan had on Sasuke's body. This was the first time she'd seen him bounce back so quickly.

Sakura had taken a few days off from the hospital on Sasuke's return, knowing her husband wouldn't come to the hospital for treatment now that she—an elite medical ninja—was his wife. She had spent three days in total, healing her husband from his injuries. Sarada had been impatient like she usually was when waiting on Sasuke to recuperate enough to come out of their bedroom. Sakura couldn't blame her daughter, admitting to herself that she had trouble with patience during this time, too.

Today, Sakura had returned to her shift at the hospital, knowing that there was nothing more that she could do for her husband other than to let him rest. Apparently, Sasuke didn't think he needed rest.

Sakura continued to hum happily, dicing the last of the tomatoes when her daughter walked through the door.

"Sarada," Sakura called out in her direction, looking over her shoulder. "I've made you and your father's favorite for dinner."

She heard a disgruntled response of acknowledgement and turned to see her daughter yank out one of the chairs from their dinging table and sit down. Obviously, Sakura had not received the merry Sarada she had been expecting.

"What's the matter, darling?" Sakura asked as she began to approach her.

Sarada pouted in return, jutting out her chin as she supported it with her palm. Sakura could recognize that sulking face from anywhere. It was an Uchiha thing, she told herself.

"Is it Boruto, again?"

"No," she replied tightly, "Papa."

Sakura was thrown by that. "Papa? What are you talking about?"

Sarada's frowned deepened and she raised her head from her hand, leaning forcefully back into her chair. "He promised to help me train this afternoon but never showed. I tried to find him, but it's as if he's not in this damned village!"

Sakura didn't know what to say to her daughter other than: "I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. Your father is very important to the Village which makes him very b-"

"Busy. I know," Sarada finished for her, emphasizing the word "know." Sakura frowned and looked down. She understood her daughter's frustration and had always tried to appease her, stressing the importance of what it was her father was doing.

Sakura sat across from her daughter and took Sarada's hand. Her daughter peered up into her mother's eyes, seeming to soften at her touch. "Your father loves you very much."

It was at that moment that the door opened and Uchiha Sasuke stepped through the entry. Sakura and Sarada both stood up at what they saw. His shirt was bloody and his right eye faintly bruised. Hair disheveled and drooping his right arm, the Uchiha stopped at the sight of them. Sakura gasped.

"What happened to you?" she was at his side in an instant, taking his arm over her shoulder. Her husband visibly winced as she did so and Sakura took the opportunity to assess his injuries more closely. She helped him make it to the dining room table and Sasuke settled deeply into the chair, nodding his thanks.

"Well?" she asked in response to his silence.

"Just a spar," was his curt reply and Sakura felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle.

She gritted her teeth. There's only one person that could have inflicted this much damage on Sasuke and Sakura instantly recognized Naruto in all of his injuries. "What were you thinking? You're supposed to be resting! Not fighting the Hokage!"

Her husband offered no excuse and remained silent. Sakura decided she would let him suffer through his minor injuries, hoping it would teach him not to be too reckless. Instead, she began to heal the worst of his injuries: his arm. Sasuke seemed to pull away from her at first but was stilled by the pain of moving his arm. Not realizing his effort, Sakura held on more tightly, summoning chakra to her palms and sensing that the radius bone of his forearm was completely severed and the ulna was also fractured. She grimaced.

"Are you trying to lose your right arm, too?" she exclaimed.

She heard Sarada giggle, but when Sasuke raised his eyes to hers, Sarada seemed to remember her annoyance with him. "You were supposed to train with me today, but instead you were out getting your butt kicked by the Seventh!"

The Uchiha scoffed. "You should see him."

Sakura finished healing his arm and released it. Her husband flexed it approvingly and then reached it out across the table, closing the small distance between him and his daughter, and placed two fingers upon her forehead. "I got distracted today. Next time, I promise."

Sakura smiled at the familiar gesture that her husband used to show them affection. She also found that her annoyance with him had faded and was replaced with happiness as she watched the two people she loved most together in one room, again.

Sarada rubbed her forehead where he had poked her, saying, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Smiling, Mrs. Uchiha bounded into the kitchen, exclaiming "Hope you guys are hungry! I made your favorite!"

Plates were set before them and Sakura took the seat next to her husband, smiling at him as she waited for his approval. He said nothing and immediately began to eat. She guessed she wasn't going to get a very joyful Sasuke tonight, either.

The rest of the dinner was spent somewhat awkwardly. Sakura would ask them about their days and would get a short response here and there from both of them, neither seeming to express the desire to reciprocate a conversation. Not necessarily wanting to sit in silence, Sakura decided that she would update them on things from the hospital: new techniques and discoveries, diseases and jutsu, patients and their injuries.

"You seemed to have mastered the arm pretty well," her husband interrupted, saying his first full sentence to her since he had arrived. He kept his eyes on his plate and avoided looking at her.

Sakura noticed that Sarada had stopped eating and now stared at her curiously, sneaking occasional glances at her father.

"Yes," she smiled a reply, interpreting her husband's statement as gratitude for healing him. "The arm's network is complex but I seem to have acquired a full understanding of it.

"Have you had lots of practice?" interjected her daughter, who closely evaluated her face.

Sakura nodded modestly, "I guess you could say that."

She notices a small exchange between her daughter and husband, but did not make anything of it. Sakura was just grateful to have her family interested in her accomplishments as a medic-nin.

Sakura continued to explain in detail different parts of the human anatomy, other complex systems that Sakura found more interesting, but her daughter began to express a different interest.

"Did you heal _many_ people in the Fourth Shinobi War?" Sarada asked, interrupting Sakura's advanced speech of terminology in reference to the human brain. Sasuke seemed to jerk his head up at that question and narrow his eyes at their daughter.

Sakura smiled at her daughter's curiosity, replying "Many shinobi were injured during the Fourth Shinobi World War. I belonged to the Logistical Support and Medical Division of the Allied Shinobi Forces, whose task was to heal the wounded."

"I see," was Sarada's reply. Her daughter grew solemn as she continued to pick at her food.

The rest of the evening was spent in silence. Sakura tidied up the kitchen while her husband bent over his katana, cleaning it carefully. He then proceeded to clean his shuriken and kunai next. Sarada came by and hugged them both before announcing her plan to go to bed.

Sakura followed her upstairs and kissed her goodnight, a routine that was familiar to the both of them.

"You're not ever going to leave us, are you, Mama?" her daughter asked hanging on to her hand as Sakura kneeled beside her bed. Sarada's voice was small and it reminded Sakura of the time when Sarada was just a little girl.

"Of course not," she replied, "What would ever make you think that? You and your father mean far too much to me."

Sarada still didn't seem comforted so Sakura quickly added, "Know that there will never be a time where I will willingly leave you. I am your mother and you are my daughter and I intend for us always to be together."

Sakura knew that they both understood that in this shinobi world there might come a time where something threatened their family and separation might be the result. However, Sakura knew in her heart that she would do everything in her power to prevent that from happening. She hoped that her daughter would come to understand that it was for this very reason her father _had_ to leave them sometimes.

Sarada smiled and closed her eyes. Rising from the floor, Sakura exited her daughter's bedroom, glancing back at the child who meant everything to her.

Turning, Sakura made her way back down the hall, passing the room where the little Uchiha family stored their books. Out of habit, Sakura made to close the opened door, when something caught her eye. A book lay on one of sofas and Sakura assumed that her daughter had forgotten to put it back on the shelf. However, when she made to pick it up, Sakura noticed that a folded piece of paper lay on its surface.

Lifting the paper, she recognized the book beneath it. It was one of her medical reference books that Sakura had used in the war. It had been passed down to her from her mentor, Lady Tsunade, and Sakura had studied it mercilessly, finding it extraordinarily helpful when healing the wounded shinobi of the Allied Forces.

Turning her attention back to the piece of paper in her hand, Sakura unfolded it. She read it at first, not recognizing the script that was scribbled across it. However, she was taken aback as Sakura began to recognize the words. It was the love letter that one of the ninja from the Hidden Stone village had given her after healing his arm in the war. What was his name again?

She found it, signed at the bottom. Morio. Sakura smiled, faintly remembering the ninja's face. She had forgotten about the nice man who had professed his love for her after only having met her once. After Sakura had apologetically rejected him, she had placed his letter in the book, next to the illustration of the arm she had referred to when healing his. Sakura hadn't given the letter a second thought, forgetting it completely.

She hoped that wherever the man was now, if he had survived the war, that he had found the happiness that he was searching for.

But why had this letter resurfaced, now? Why was it laying here on the sofa?

Turning, Sakura was surprised to see her husband standing in the entry, staring at his feet.

"Sarada found it, hidden in your book," he spoke, no trace of emotion in his voice.

Sakura glanced down at the note in her hands, realizing he was referring to the love letter. She contemplated her husband's words. Sarada had found and most likely read the love letter to her mother. Suddenly her daughter's questions at dinner made a lot more sense to Sakura now.

"Ah," she said, folding the letter back the way she had found it. "I see."

She knew Sarada to be overly curious about her and Sasuke and that included each of their pasts. It was no secret that Sarada had been kept in the dark for most of her life regarding Sasuke's past. They had decided to wait until the time was right to reveal those kinds of truths to her. Sasuke had not wanted his brother to be viewed as a monster by their daughter and so had decided to conceal his past until she had acquired more life experience and understanding. Only then, would he tell her everything.

But now, Sakura realized, that maybe Sarada was questioning her mother's past as well. She shook her head sadly, fully realizing why her daughter had been upset when she had put her to bed. Of course, Sarada had assumed that since Sasuke left to redeem his past, that her mother might leave to redeem hers as well. This was not the case and Sakura would explain things to her daughter in the morning.

Looking up at her husband again, she noticed a deepening scowl in his features. It was at that moment that another realization occurred to Sakura. Her husband had read the letter, too. The more she looked at his irritable facial expression the more she knew it to be true.

Was Sasuke jealous? She audibly giggled at this notion and her husband shot her a glare.

"What's so funny?" he demanded, walking fully into the room.

Sakura giggled again. "This means nothing, darling."

"Hn," was her husband's quick reply as he picked up the resting book off the couch and placed it in its correct location on the shelf. By his sharp movements, Sakura could tell he had been a little more than annoyed by the letter addressed to his wife.

She regarded him attentively as he pushed the book a little too forcefully into its place. Sakura knew she had every right to be vexed with him over his unjustifiable anger towards her. Who was he to judge her? Sakura had only ever loved the man in front of her, even if he less than deserved it at many points in his life. With that thought, Sakura identified the very insecurity that her husband was struggling with. He knew that he had ignored and hurt her for most of her life, even tried to kill her at one time. It was for this reason, she understood, that her husband was believing what the letter had suggested to him: she had had every reason and opportunity to love someone else.

"Sasuke, this letter—"

"You kept it," he interrupted, leaning his back against the book shelf. She took in the sight of him, still battered from his fight with Naruto. Was it the letter that had caused him to act so recklessly? By the looks of him, she was beginning to believe that maybe it had.

Sakura noticed that Sasuke was purposefully avoiding her eyes and she knew it was because he felt ridiculous for experiencing what he was feeling. Sasuke never acted this way and that's precisely why Sakura found it somewhat amusing.

"There's no reason to get jealous," she stated simply, smiling innocently at him.

He scoffed. "I'm _not_ jealous."

She began to make her way towards him, and asked, "Do you want to know what I said to the man who gave me this letter?"

Her husband met her eyes and remained still as the distance between them grew shorter and shorter until Sakura peered up into his mismatched eyes, remaining silent until he gave her an answer.

"What?" he finally asked, obviously annoyed at her question.

She noticed his expression change to one of surprise as she placed two fingers upon his forehead. "I told him that I was in love with someone else." His eyes widened and then after a moment, instantly softened.

"I have _always_ been in love with _you_ ," she said softly, lowering her hand. He closed his eyes and released what Sakura believed to be a sigh of relief. She smiled at him then and when he opened his eyes the irritation was gone.

Taking her hand in his, he squeezed it in appreciation, and said "Thank you for everything."

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 **End**


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